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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25171741">Night Before</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c'>sanctum_c</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tifa Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anticipation, Character Study, Cold, F/M, Implied/Referenced Sex, Late at Night, Mid-Canon, Missing Scene, Moon, Not Before Crisis (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Compilation of Final Fantasy VII Compliant, Not Crisis Core (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Dirge of Cerberus (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Final Fantasy VII Remake Compliant, One Shot, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Tifa Lockhart, Post-Coital, Post-Sector 7 Plate Drop (Compilation of FFVII), Romance, Serious, Sleeping Together, Stars, Tifa Week (Compilation of FFVII), Tifa Week 2020, Watching Someone Sleep, Wishes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:09:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>808</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25171741</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>How much would it cost to keep the stars set in position? How much to keep the moon where it was? Prevent the dawn. Prevent the revelation of who amongst her friends would stand with her and Cloud? Prevent the point she needed to take the next step on the path to one final confrontation. To come face to face with him once more.</i>
</p><hr/><p>Tifa wants to stop dawn breaking.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tifa Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827742</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Night Before</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the prompt '“Have you ever wished for an endless night? Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight.” - glitter in the air by pink.'</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cloud’s eyes remained closed, his breathing even. Tifa kept her gaze on his face as she slipped out from his arms and his warmth. She shivered in the chill air of the Highwind’s conference room. Nowhere to hide in here, nowhere to collect her thoughts. And her, standing there in nothing but her shirt.</p><p>That had happened with Cloud. No getting away from their intimacy. Cloud’s awkward kisses and stilted movements. His shyness, his reluctance to touch and accept her touches. Somehow it had never been clear how new it all was to him. And now of course it was all so painfully obvious. Selfish again; thinking of companionship, wanting this last embrace before whatever happened in the morning.</p><p>Good to be so close to someone again. Better still her connection to Cloud seemed so much more intense. A wry smile as she grabbed discarded clothing from the floor. How many other people’s minds had she ever been in? How many times had she fallen into the Lifestream and seen someone's depths? And to think, once looking deep into a partner’s eyes seemed sufficient to think she truly knew them.</p><p>A shake of her head. She dressed quickly, efficiently, removing the shirt – her back to Cloud despite his slumbering – to refasten her bra. Exertions had tired Cloud, but seemed to only have energized Tifa. She should stay with him, sleep with him this one last time. But if she slept now-</p><p>Morning would come before she knew it. And morning would bring only one thing with certainty; a descent into the depths of the Planet alongside Cloud. If anyone else was to accompany them- That was the mystery. Almost tempting to call their PHSs. Talk to each, beg each to come back, so they could remain together.</p><p>No. Selfish once more. Cloud tasked them with finding their own reason to fight. Tifa had not known how to answer, grateful circumstances let her and Cloud remain. There were reasons she could give to a cause to guide her path now.</p><p>Sephiroth had taken so much over so long. Her father. Her home. Aeris. Tried to take Cloud apart piece by piece. And now the fate of the whole planet rested in the balance. She was not short of reasons, but what was her specific reason to come back? Was she only here because there was no one and nowhere else any longer? She could have gone back to Costa del Sol and Johnny – but the thought had not crossed her mind until now.</p><p>She could have gone to the City of the Ancients, paid her respects to her fallen comrade. Too many strong emotions there. Not what she needed. Home was a bad facsimile. Seventh Heaven and Jessie, Biggs and Wedge all gone. She could have gone to Elmyra and Marlene in Kalm. But to do so would near inevitably detract from the time Barret needed to spend with his daughter.</p><p>There was nowhere else he could go. North Corel and the desert prison held nothing for him now.</p><p>Another glance to Cloud; still asleep.</p><p>Tifa padded to the door. The running lights were still on out here, the metal cold under her feet. Almost enough to make her go back for her boots. But no. This moment alone for now. She padded up to the Highwind’s deck. The airship creaked and swayed in the breeze, the cold making Tifa shiver. Miles from anywhere; the night clear and bright. So many stars, the wisps of the galaxy visible above. The moon. Like the night at the well all over again.</p><p>A simple promise meant so much in the end. A promise so essential, so core to Cloud. And to her.</p><p>Not the same stars tonight.</p><p>How much would it cost to keep the stars set in position? How much to keep the moon where it was? Prevent the dawn. Prevent the revelation of who amongst her friends would stand with her and Cloud? Prevent the point she needed to take the next step on the path to one final confrontation. To come face to face with him once more.</p><p>But no. The cost too high. And other pleaces to revisit and change if such a thing was possible. A cruel death in the Forgotten City. A death at the Mount Nibel reactor. A fire. Or further back still; the discovery of Jenova, the discovery of Mako power. The eradication of the Cetra.</p><p>None of it was possible; the past was immutable.</p><p>Aeris; Aeris believed in the future. The need to look forward not back. Another glance up. Already the stars and moon would have shifted ever so slightly. No way to keep them tethered. Best let them drift, let them move. Let dawn come. Another shiver. Maybe wait the night out with Cloud. Maybe watch the sun rise together.</p>
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